Dyeing of knitted and woven fabrics



Jan, 13, 1931- c. CALLEBAUT ET AL 1,788,980

DYEING OF KNITTED AND WOVEN FABRICS Filed MaFCh 10. 1926 .2 Sheets-Sheet 1 www A' Mw/ @L Jain- 13, 1931. c. CALLEBAUT E1' AL 1,783,980

DYEING O KNITTED AND WOVEN FABRICS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 10, 1926 Patented Jan. 173, 1,931d

Ainsana cHAnLns GALLEBAUT AND JULIEN DE BLIoQnY,`oF innings, ENGLAND DYEING F KNITTEDYAND' WOVENFABRIGS y Application ledMarch 10, 11926, Serial No.

The `present inventionfrelates to improvements 1n Adyeing machines .and vmore particularly in the dyeing of lknitted or woven articles. 5,` `Hitherto -in methods for dyeing socks, stockings, knitted goods `and the like, ethe ooods tdye, `then moved about from the outside by means .of poles. It was klater suggested to 1Q', agitate the liquor by means :of injected steam andpaddle wheel or the like, 4but the eii'ectof the steam was to heat up that liquor i to..an undesirable extent.

According to the present invention agitati0n or circulation ofthe dyeing "liquor-is obtained by means of compressedair passing through it.

The compressed air is .further-adapted to agitate lift or .circulate ythey material withinKV I the `dyeing tank in addition .to the agitation or.circulation of the liquor. The dyeing machine includes a Vtank or `vat the contour ofthe shell of which is constructed with aV View to creating ,a path orthe agitated A2,5. liquor and material over the k*whole of .thei

V'internal space of the tank.` It fha-s been found by experiment 'that a tank-.of 4,circular cross section is unsuitable in that the stream of compressed air and Yagitated .fluid does A3Q not follow completely the curvature 4of :the

"shell but takes a path ot kan ellipse having i its major axis vertical, the said ellipse covering a 'portion only of the cross section of lthe tank.y In this Way the ycirculation ,or agitation currentis shortcircuited i.` e. part fte l` olf atheluid and the material fin lthe tank ref, mains untouched by thei stream of 1fluidv vcreated by the compressed air.

Further bythe present invention the `apfgoods `may -be arranged withinka -drum .or

v enclosure mounted within a vat, the drum'.-

being perforated preferably `at 'the top and bottom onlytoallow otcirculation through it of the liquor in the'vat.

Heating means such as asteam pipemay b e provided inthe vat exteriorto v the drum or-container for the goods. f y Within the drum and preferablyarranged in Ithe walls ,thereof towards its base yare nel .or more pipes havingl l.perforations were immersed in a vat or stank .ofV

93,667,21111y in- Great Braam July '16," '1925.

therein, ,through Vwhich compressed .air-can A be passed, so thatfbyrthislmeans aV lation of the liquor and with ,the liquor 'a' circucontinuous'circulation and turning over .of

the goods within the .drum' is fobtainedv Suitable control meansmaylbe providedfon the pipes wher-el V,one vor vmore 'are provided so that :circulation can be ,reversed when desired.

The invention is more particularly-jde scribed with reference `to the accompanying drawings 'in Ywhich Figure l `shows in diagrammatic vthe Ycurvaturev of a tank Vconstructe cording vto the vpresent invention.

:form d fac- Figure-2 is fa .view in side elevation ot the dyeing tmachine with the drum shown indotted lines; in this-:case 'the :drum -:has

symmetrical sides vso .that ,the agitating or Y circulating fluid `may traveleitherclockwise or ,anti-tclockwise within the drumxto .prevent the goods becoming entangled. Thedrum.

however lrnafy benidentical in shape withztha-t shown in Figurek l.

F'gure `3 "is a viewk in vend elevation cor.-

responding to Figure 2.

It has :been YJfound byl .experiment that Vthe most suitable contour. of 'the s'hell; of 'the vat or tank is as .shown .in

the accompanying diagrammatic drawings which Eigure l1 :shows a stankin cross section.' `The'length of Vthis iis proportionalgto the `.desired capacity and has no relation to the height or width oftheitank. The

basic measurement of the tank -is the vertical distance 4.between the lpoints 1,12. :With :centre l and radius between onegand ,a .half

times totwicethefdistance between thefpoints l and-2 a curve 3 is described whiehwill one of the bounding walls of thetank.V

form Similarly thecentre-2 land the same radius) (whatever radius that may be between :the Y above stated margin) |a-curvet is -desc ribed.

The curves 1or quadrants .3 ,and 4 fare rvjoined Y vby the portion -or wall `5..which is tangential to both .curves Sand-4. vThus the height-ot` the tank is-between four to ive :timesthe distance *between :the basic points ,1. and12,

while'the .wall 5is equal to: the .distan tween the `lbasic points l and: 2.

@e biey ino the distance between the basic points 1 and" 2, whilst the radius of the quadrants 3 and 4 are between oneJ and ahalf to twice the distance between'vthe basic points V1 and 2, the radius of the quadrant 7 is between one and a half to two and'two thirds times the radius of the quadrants 3 and 4.

In the preferred form 01"' construction the radii of the quadrants 3 and 44 are twice .the distance between the base points l and 2, while the radius of the quadrant 7- is four times the distance between the said basic points that is to say the radius of the quadrant 7 is double that of either of the vquadrant 3 or 4, and the height of the tank is ive-sixths of the width.`

Portions 8 and 9 of the shell are then determined, the portion S being a verticall continuation of a path tangential to the quadrant 7 and the portion 9 being in a-vertical plane at a distance'of-between two and a quarter to three and a quarter times the distance between the basic points l and 2, or

the height of the vertical wall 5. The upper parts of the portions 8 and 9 constitute the loading opening of the vat and it will be noticed that the uppermost part-ofthe section 8 of the kshell lies above the hori- Zontal plane tangential with the portion 3 thereby eliminating overow 'of fluid within the tank. V

@ne or more inlets for the compressed air are'provided at l0, thepath of travel ofY the compressed air Vbeing as indicated by the arrow. In this way the liquid andthe material within the tank are being lifted, while the compressed air is travelling around the portion on the left hand side or circulating curve of the tank shown in the drawings, whilst the material commences to drop after it has reached its uppermost position on the right hand side, i. e. beneath the opening of the tank. The quadrant 7 of the tank is thus termed the droppingV curve.

In a, modiiied' form of construction and in-- the case where it 'is desirable to provide two alternateY directions of flow of lthe compressed air for example clockwiseand anticlockwise, the dropping curve of the tank is eliminated anda second circulating curve is formed diametrically oppositeV the first,V

the two curves being separated byV an opening` of' similar width to that disclosed Vin the above calculations. In tanks yof this type it is possible-to pass the compressed air into the tank through onel or more oriand compressed air will travel clockwise, and atter a given period to close such orifice or orifices and open the other at a corresponding position at the foot of the second circulating curve so that the material, dye liquor and compressed 'air will travel anti-clockwise. This methodu of procedureeliminates the possibility of the material becoming entangled. v

A furtherfeature of the invention resides in preheating the compressed air, i. e. heating such air prior to its entrance into the ltank to contact with the dye liquor.' In dyeing knitted or woven articles it is desirable 212 F. according to the nature yof the colour 1 and kind ofl material. 'g

By, preheating 'the compressed air it isk possible to maintain the temperature within the tank substantially at the desired .heightv or within the desired range.

According to a modified lmethod of heating, in' addition to .the compressed air oriices and jets, a number of steam jets may be f used, the object of these steam jets primarily being to provide a heating means or the liquor up to thedesired temperature,or again these steam jets may be used in combination with jets of preheated'air. It is of course well known to provide steam jets alone in dyeing tanks or. vats, the steam serving the double purpose of heating the liquor and at the Sametime circulating it.-

The disadvantage of'this known arrangement is that in order.y to maintain thenec essary circulation of the liquir it is impossible to cutoff the supply of'steam when the desired temperature has been reached and the operator is then faced with the al-' jets for the circulation of 'the liquor and purpose of heating the liquor, the'heating source may be cut-'oil at will withoutinterthe liquor and material.l

Further if desired a numberofpaddles to maintain the dye liquor at acertain tem-V By providing vtherefore one or moreairmaterial and one or more steam jets for the tering with the circulation or' agitation ,of

or the like may beutilized as'an'auxiliary agitating means in conjunction with the supplyof compressed'V air.V

In the; construction according to Figures 2 andf thejgoods to be-treated are placed within a drum 11 mounted within a vat 12 the drum being perforated preferably at the top and bottom only tov allow of circulation through it of the dye liquor within the vat. This drum may however be shaped similar to the vat shown in Figure 1 if desired.

The air supply pipe is shown at 13 this supply of air passing from an air receiver 16 and entering the drum at the base thereof, namely, at the parts 14. The horizontal portion 17 of the air supply pipe situated within the drum 11 is perforated throughout its length to promote agitation of the liquor within the drum.

Heating means such as a'steam pipe 15 are provided in the vat such heating means 15 being situated exterior of the drum 11 within which Vthe goods are placed.

The apparatus may be used solely with the air pipes, or alternatively with the steam pipes and further still with both pipes so that the air supply may be used for agitation purposes the steam supply for heating purposes.

By such an arrangement, i. e., the provision of a drum within the vat, it is possible to insert fresh dye within the vat and eX- ternally of the drum, to renew the strength of the dyeing liquor, without destroying the homogeneity of the dye liquor circulating immediately adjacent the goods.

It will also be seen that in the above described arrangement a circulation of the goods can be obtained which may be quite independent of the heating of the liquor. Further fresh dye stock can be introduced, and only gradually will pass to the goods,

as this eXtra dye stock can be introduced into the exterior vat, and will then progressively and gradually percolate into the liquor within the perforated interior drum, when it has become thoroughly mingled and distributed with the vat liquor. Y

A further advantage is that as theliquor will tend to froth, this froth will pass through the perforation in the drum to the exterior, so that the goods within the drum are maintained immersed in liquor and the l froth does not thereby interfere with their effective turning over and circulation.

A method of dyeing knitted, Woven or the like articles consisting in providing a pool of dyeing liquor, immersing the articles in the liquor, and alternately introducing air into the body of liquor at opposite sides of4 the pool whereby to produce successive rotation of the body of liquor and articles immersed therein in opposite directions.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto signed our names this 23rd day of February,

CHARLES 'CALLEBAUT JULIEN DE BLICQUY.

YA further advantage is that the' heating Y can be applied quite independently of they circulation means.

It will be noted that in veach instance a pool of dyeing liquor is provided in a substantially unobstructed vat, this pool having dimensions of the same order in the vertical direction and in a horizontal direction, that is, in Figs. 1 and 3, the height of the tank is substantially equal to its width. The goods are immersed in this pool of liquor and the body of the liquor with the goods therein is caused to rotate by the introduction of compressed air beneath the body of 

